


Falling

by rosecake



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Eadu, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-10-25 15:35:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10767201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecake/pseuds/rosecake
Summary: Bodhi thinks he's falling in love with one of the Empire's top engineers, but there's more going on with Galen than he realizes.





	Falling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lake (beyond_belief)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyond_belief/gifts).



The first time they'd met he'd smiled at Bodhi, told him _call me Galen_. Easy enough for Bodhi to go along with, especially since Galen hadn't actually given Bodhi his last name or his title. He hadn't been wearing a rank plaque either, and Bodhi was new enough to the Imperial command structure that he hadn't thought to take note of the code cylinders.

So he nearly choked on his own tongue when he finally figured out that _Galen_ was _Doctor Galen Erso, Chief Engineer of the Eadu Research Facility_.

"That's quite a mouthful, isn't it?" he said, still smiling. "Just Galen is fine."

 

\---

"What's all this kyber for, anyway?" asked Bodhi.

Some of the crates held general supplies, food and replacement parts for the lab equipment, but most of it was kyber. And he wasn't the only pilot hauling it, either.

Galen looked at him out of the corner of his eye and tapped his closed mouth with the stylus before responding. "That's confidential."

"Right, sorry," said Bodhi, dragging a hand through his hair.

He had an unfortunate tendency to ask a lot of questions, mostly meaningless ones, just because it had always been the easiest way for him to make small talk. By the time he joined up with the Empire he'd realized that there were a lot of questions he was much happier not knowing the answers to, but now it was a nervous habit and hard to break. It hadn't mattered much during flight training, but he was working at a top secret research facility now and he really needed to lock it down. He suspected if he'd asked anyone else he'd have gotten himself into legitimate trouble.

"Don't worry about it," said Galen, ticking another box off the manifest.

Bodhi was pretty sure the job was beneath him. When he'd first started making cargo runs to Eadu he'd been greeted by a rotating selection of junior techs going through the manifest. But then he'd met Galen, and they'd gotten along pretty well, and now it was Galen most of the time even though he surely had better things to do that come outside and get soaked in the rain. The only real reason for Galen to be out in the cargo shuttles himself was because he liked Bodhi's company.

Bodhi hadn't been sure how to feel about that at first, because something about being friends with the top-ranking engineer on the planet felt wrong for a nobody from Jedha who'd done nothing of note in his life but fail out of the starfighter program. He was grateful, though. Galen was by far the most laid back Imperial officer he'd ever met, and when he was around Bodhi didn't feel like he was one small mistake away from being summarily executed. In a system Bodhi was pretty sure was deliberately designed to put people on edge, Galen was an oddly calming presence.

Maybe it was his deep, calm voice, still thick with the accent from wherever he'd come from originally instead of papered over with a stilted Core accent like most officers. Or maybe it was his eyes. Something about him just seemed kind.

Deep down Bodhi knew that couldn't be right. Nobody ever got as far as Galen Erso in the Imperial power structure by being _kind_. But it was nice to pretend, at least for a little while, that he was working for someone decent.

"What's your schedule look like?" asked Galen, after the last of the crates had been cleared against the manifest.

"I'm off-shift here," said Bodhi. "I don't head back to Jedha until tomorrow."

"Wonderful," he said, smiling. "Do you want to grab dinner?"

He had a really nice smile, even if didn't always quite reach his eyes. Bodhi tried not to think about that too much.

"I'd love to," said Bodhi.

 

\---

Bodhi's schedule was far more erratic than Galen's, but he got the impression that Galen's sleeping and eating habits were pretty irregular despite the steady day and night cycle of a life spent on a single planet. Regardless, Galen seemed to easily adapt to whenever Bodhi was around with free time in his schedule. And after a few months meals in the mess hall eventually turned into meals in Galen's quarters.

They were the size of a small apartment, much bigger than anything Bodhi was used to as a cargo pilot, and sparsely furnished. No windows, which was a given considering how close to the center of the facility they were, but it wasn't like there was anything to look at besides constant rain even if he'd had some.

There also weren't any kind of personal items that Bodhi could see. No pictures of family and friends, no real knick-knacks or anything, nothing to indicate that Galen had a life outside of his job on Eadu.

Bodhi thought about asking about it, but he stopped himself. He didn't keep anything like that with him either. Something about having personal effects in the Imperial Navy wasn't comforting. It just felt like a weakness waiting to be exploited.

 

\---

Bodhi was stuck on Eadu with nothing in particular to do, grounded thanks to thunderstorms too strong to allow for safe take-off and landings. So once Galen was off for the day Bodhi managed to talk him into a game of Sabacc.

Not for credits, because gambling for currency was technically against Imperial regulations, and Galen was a stickler for following regulations even if he never seemed particularly interested in enforcing them against anyone else. Instead they were wagering alcohol, a cheap bottle of local whisky Bodhi had gotten from Jedha against a bottle of Cassandran Brandy provided by Galen. It was by no means an even match-up, but Galen didn't seem to have anything cheaper, and Bodhi wasn't going to complain about it.

Not that it was going to matter, because Galen was destroying him.

"You're terrible at this," said Galen. Bodhi was tempted to take offense, but there was real concern in Galen's voice. "You play this for credits? You shouldn't be playing this for actual credits."

"I am not a bad Sabacc player. I am a fantastic Sabacc player," he said, and then realized that might be pushing believability. "A perfectly decent player, at least."

Bodhi definitely wasn't a terrible gambler, though. He could tell because he still had all his original limbs attached. A terrible gambler would have lost at least an arm to angry creditors by Bodhi's age. There were plenty of people on Jedha who were a testament to that.

"The problem is that you're cheating," he said.

"Counting cards is not cheating," said Galen. "It's basic math. It's the entire point of the game."

"That might be true on some sort of philosophical level, but try it any casino this side of the Core and you're going to be thrown out in an hour, probably with one less hand than you came in with."

"Why would I gamble at any place that considers being good at it cheating?"

Bodhi sighed and put down his hand - it wasn't terrible, a perfectly respectable twenty, but that was right on the line. He fully expected to lose. The further they made it through the deck the tighter the grasp Galen had on the odds. So he was surprised when Galen dropped a worthless hand of thirteen on the table.

"Did you lose count?" he asked.

"Sometimes there's no accounting for luck," said Galen. "You can plan all you want, but sometimes things just don't go your way."

A single winning hand didn't count for much, though, and at the end of the night Galen still came out on top. He sent Bodhi home with the brandy anyway.

 

\---

It was a rare sunny day on Eadu - the first since Bodhi had started this route nearly half a year ago, in fact - and the light coming in through the windows was bright enough to send off blinding reflections.

"I feel more like I'm on Jedha than Eadu," said Bodhi.

"How are things going on Jedha?" asked Galen, ticking items off the manifest list.

"It's Jedha," said Bodhi, shrugging. People told him it used to be a nice place to live, once, but that had been before he was born. The Clone Wars had been hard on his homeworld, and the Empire even harder. "It's the same as it always is."

"You know, I've never seen it with my own eyes, even though I always meant to. When we were young my wife and I used to talk about visiting the Jedi temple there," said Galen. "That was before the Empire took over, though, and desecrated it."

Bodhi felt his understanding of the world shift slightly. There was a lot there, in Galen's voice, a sadness that was turning the last half of the statement into something very close to treason if Bodhi wanted to look at it that way. He left that part of it alone, though. He should have left the whole thing alone, really, but curiosity got the better of him.

"You have a wife?" he asked.

"I had a wife," said Galen. He was looking at the datapad in front of him, not at Bodhi. "She died a long time ago."

Bodhi could hear the sorrow in his voice, and he had no idea what to do about it. He put a hand on Galen's shoulder, and Galen looked at him then, his eyes dark. "I'm sorry," said Bodhi, because he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Thank you," said Galen. He took a deep, shuddering breath, and for a moment Bodhi thought he was going to cry, but he covered his mouth and the moment passed. "Sorry," he said. "I just haven't talked about it a while."

"That's fine," said Bodhi. "I mean, you can talk about it if you want to." _I don't mind if you cry_ , he almost said, but that was way too personal, too awkward, and so he kept it to himself.

"Thank you," said Galen.

 

\---

Galen did eventually talk about her, although not very often. "Her name was Lyra," he said. "She was a much better person than me."

\---

Bodhi was in Galen's quarters again. He'd spent so much time in them that they'd come to feel just as familiar as the shuttle. Over the past few weeks he'd spent most of his free time drinking Galen's liquor, talking to him, playing cards with him. And now Galen was cooking for him.

"Most of the food they bring in is frozen," said Galen. "It's much more practical. But every now and then we get a shipment of something fresh, and it makes a big difference."

Bodhi was used to making due with ration bars, and even the food in Eadu's canteen was a step up compared to that. His mouth was already watering at the thought of something even nicer.

"I didn't even know you could cook," said Bodhi. They talked so often and still there was so much he didn't know about Galen.

"I'm not really very good at it, but over the years I've learned a few things that are hard to mess up."

That was Galen being humble, though, because the poultry and white wine sauce dish he managed to pull together was the best thing Bodhi'd had in years.

"This is amazing," said Bodhi. He was half tempted to lick the plate.

"I'm glad you like it," said Galen, smiling softly.

There was an ever-present voice in the back of Bodhi's head, and right now it was telling him _you're reading this all wrong, you have to be reading this wrong_. He didn't think he was, though. Galen's kitchen table was small, really only big enough to seat the two of them, and it wouldn't have been difficult for Bodhi to lean over it far enough to touch Galen.

He waited until later, though, when they were done with dinner and sitting on the couch. Galen had a bottle of some sort of alcohol Bodhi'd never heard of before. Just based on the look of the bottle he assumed it was something expensive. Bodhi let himself drink enough that he felt brave, and then he put the glass down. He didn't want to get so drunk he was sloppy.

He moved slowly, slow enough that Galen could back away if he wanted. Galen stayed motionless, though, until Bodhi's mouth was on his.

Bodhi half expected to be shoved away. Or, more likely, gently pushed away and given a kind but firm talk about the inappropriateness of physical relationships in the workplace, or with older men, or something aggravatingly sensible like that.

Instead, all Galen did was pull him closer, until Bodhi was half in his lap. Galen's fingers tangled in his hair, holding his head close. It was like he'd been waiting for Bodhi to make his move.

They stayed like that for a long time, and when Galen did finally pull away, it was just far enough to speak clearly.

"This could be dangerous," he said.

And there was the warning Bodhi had expected, but at least it wasn't a full-on rejection. Bodhi was still in his lap, pressed so close he could feel the rise and fall of Galen's chest, and Galen's fingers hadn't loosened their grip on his hair. Bodhi wasn't all that worried about him changing his mind.

"I know," said Bodhi. "I know, I just don't care."

He really didn't. He might not be the bravest, but any kind of work for the Empire was dangerous. Just living on Jedha had been dangerous. Fucking around with a superior officer might not be the smartest thing he'd ever done, but it wasn't any more dangerous than anything else in his life, and he suspected he was going to get a lot more out of it in return.

He ran his hand under the edge of Galen's shirt, pulling it up to reveal the skin underneath, and Galen sighed heavily.

"I want to fuck you," said Bodhi, mumbling it into Galen's neck. So many months of daydreaming about this and he still hadn't come up with a classier way to say.

"Yes," said Galen, leaning back on the couch, pulling Bodhi back with him so that Bodhi was on top of him. "Yes, I want the same thing."

 

\---

Galen was always somewhat reserved about his personal life. Friendly, sure, but closed off in such a careful way that it had taken Bodhi a long time to notice that he didn't talk about himself very much. It had taken Bodhi months to find out that he'd had a wife, after all. He didn't seem to have any close relationships with anyone besides Bodhi, and Bodhi wasn't even really sure he'd call them _close_ yet. They were still mostly friends with benefits.

So Bodhi has no idea how he got to be so good at sex.

Galen looked up at him, his mouth wrapped around Bodhi's cock, his eyes dark with blatant desire. Bodhi shuddered and looked away, because if Galen kept looking at him like that he was going to lose it immediately. He'd never been this deep down another person's throat before, though, and if felt amazing, and he wanted it to last forever.

"Please," said Bodhi. "Please don't ever stop."

 

\---

Galen's face was tight with tension as he stepped into Bodhi's shuttle.

"What's wrong?"

Galen sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah," said Bodhi. "It's all over your face. So what's wrong?"

Galen was silent for a moment before answering, absentmindedly drumming his fingers against the datapad in his hand.

"Director Krennic is visiting the facility," he said. "I'm not sure how long he'll be here. I may not see you for a while."

Bodhi had never seen the Director in person. From what Bodhi had been told, he used to be around more when the facility had first been established, but project priorities had changed and his attention had shifted elsewhere. Now his visits were rarer and tended to be brief. He wasn't sure why Galen was so stressed about it, though. Sure, talking to the higher-ups was never exactly pleasant, but his understanding was that Krennic liked Galen well enough. Galen probably had to deal with worse on a regular basis.

"Just let me know when he's gone," said Bodhi. "I'll miss you."

 

\---

The Director's visit only lasted a few days, but Galen was so busy afterwards that it was weeks before Bodhi saw him again. He looked exhausted, the normal dark marks under his eyes so bad they looked almost bruised, and when he smiled at Bodhi it looked weak.

"Are you alright?" asked Bodhi.

"I'm fine," said Galen. "We've… we've fallen a bit behind on the schedule. It's been rough getting caught up."

Bodhi hesitated for a moment, because he was sure the last thing the Chief Engineer of the facility needed was to be mothered by a lowly cargo pilot. Even if he was sleeping with him.

"Are you sure? You look like you haven't slept in a while," said Bodhi. And that was putting it diplomatically. Galen looked like he hadn't slept in years.

"It has been a while," he said. "But I'll live. Don't worry yourself over it, Bodhi."

Unfortunately Bodhi had never been very good at keeping himself from worrying about things.

 

\---

"Do you still want to visit Jedha?" asked Bodhi.

Galen looked at him, mild confusion on his face. "What?"

"You said a while ago that you always meant to see it someday," said Bodhi. It struck him as strange that Galen hadn't ever been there. Even if he hadn't really wanted to see it anymore after the temple was trashed, shouldn't he have at least made an official visit? The whole Eadu facility seemed to revolve around the kyber they pulled out of Jedha. "I mean, it's not far, and there's already a dozen cargo shuttles a day making the trip. I'm surprised you haven't already been, even if only to supervise the mining operations or something."

Galen looked at him, and then back down at the datapad with the cargo manifest. He sighed. "I'd like to, but I can't leave Eadu until the project is over."

That didn't sound right. "You're the Chief Engineer," he said. "It's your facility. Surely-"

"I don't run this place, Bodhi," said Galen. "The Empire does."

The Empire might run a tight ship, especially when it came to top secret facilities like Eadu, but people still got leave. Even Bodhi got leave, and he was far less important to the Imperial machine than Galen was. Sure, it was a security risk, but you couldn't just kidnap the number of people required to run a facility like Eadu and expect nobody to notice.

"When was the last time you left Eadu?" asked Bodhi.

"It's not-"

Bodhi interrupted him. "No, really, when?"

It was a bad question, because it really wasn't any of his business even if they were sleeping together, but he wanted to know. For some reason he felt like he needed to know.

Galen sighed. "Nearly fourteen years," he said.

Bodhi hadn't even realized the facility had been around that long. "Galen-" he started, but this time Galen cut him off.

"It's fine," he said, not looking Bodhi in the eye as he said it. "I'll leave when the project is finished."

Bodhi still didn't know what exactly the project was, but he knew it wasn't worth everything Galen was putting into it.

 

\---

The Director's next visit to Eadu was a surprise. Bodhi didn't even realize he was on the planet until he saw him in the hallway, talking to Galen. He was leaning in close, his back to Bodhi, and even though Bodhi couldn't hear them he could see the Director gesturing broadly as he spoke.

Something close to panic crossed Galen's face as he noticed Bodhi, their eyes locking briefly, but it was gone in a flash as he looked back at the Director. Not quite quick enough, though, because Director Krennic turned his head, following Galen's gaze straight back to Bodhi.

Bodhi almost froze, but his self-preservation instinct kicked in and kept him walking like nothing strange had happened even as fear raced through his veins. Galen was afraid of the Director, for whatever reason, and as a result Bodhi was _terrified_. He forced himself to nod politely and distantly as he passed them, like he would to any superior officer. And if he looked scared, well, the rank and file being scared of the officers was pretty much standard operating procedures.

The Director turned back to Galen, and neither of them acknowledged Bodhi's existence any further as he made his way down the hall. By the time he got back to his shuttle he was shaking, and he couldn't properly explain to himself why.

 

\---

Bodhi was on Jedha when the Director finally left. The storms on Eadu kept him grounded there for a while, and it was another three days before he finally saw Galen again. He spent the whole three days on edge, like he'd taken too many stims. He didn't have the most regular sleep schedule at the best of times and the anxiety just made things worse, and by the time he made it back to Eadu he was a mess.

"What's wrong with you and the Director?" asked Bodhi. It was the first thing out of his mouth, and it came out more accusatory than he intended.

Galen looked at him, his expression blank. "Nothing's wrong," he said. Bodhi waited, and he added, "We're friends."

Bodhi was pretty sure friends didn't make friends spend years working day and night on a miserable dump like Eadu.

"You look terrible for weeks after every visit he makes," said Bodhi. "And when I saw you in the hallway, what the hell was that?"

Galen wasn't looking at Bodhi. "We can talk about it later," he said.

"Galen," said Bodhi, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder, and Galen finally looked up at him. Bodhi almost wished he hadn't. There was pain in his eyes, and Bodhi wasn't sure how he was supposed to deal with it. "Galen, please."

Galen gestured around the open shuttle cargo bay. "Later," he said quietly. "Not here."

 

\---

Bodhi made sure everything was unloaded properly and that the shuttle was ready for his flight the next morning. By the time he made it to Galen's quarters it was late.

Galen offered him a drink. Judging by the burn, it was something with a high alcohol content, and if he had to guess he'd say that Galen had already had a few glasses before Bodhi got there.

"You aren't friends with the Director," said Bodhi. That much, at least, was pretty clear.

"We used to be, a long time ago," said Galen. His glass was empty, and he rolled it between his hands. There was a long pause before he spoke again. Bodhi almost asked him another question, something to prod him forward, but Galen finally sighed and set the glass down on the coffee table with a heavy clink. "That was before he shot my wife."

It was like being hit in the stomach, and Bodhi couldn't breathe for a moment.

"What?" he said, and that was a terrible response, but it was the only thing he could manage. "Why?"

It was a stupid question, Bodhi knew it was a stupid question the second it left his mouth, but it was too late to take it back. Why did the Empire do anything? It was evil. People were killed all the time, for little to no reason.

"I used to work for him on Coruscant, years ago," said Galen, his voice flat. "On this very same project, in fact, but I didn't fully realize what it was at the time. When I figured it out - well, Lyra figured it out and she told me - we decided to take out daughter and run."

Bodhi knew about Lyra, but this was the first time Galen had spoken of a child, and all of a sudden Bodhi really didn't want to know the story ended.

But he'd been the one to ask.

"We hid for a while on a planet in the Outer Rim. It used to rain all the time there too, just like Eadu. It didn't take Orson long to find us, though. Lyra and Jyn were supposed to hide, but -" Galen had to stop and inhale heavily before continuing. "Lyra tried to stop him, and he had her shot."

Jyn, the daughter. "Did he - Is your daughter -"

"She escaped," said Galen, and that was better than dead at least, but Galen was still crying. Bodhi was crying too. He'd always been useless with emotion. "I hope she's okay, I hope she's happy. I don't think I'll ever know for sure. So long as I do what they want, though, so long as I finish this project, at least then they'll have no reason to go looking for her."

Bodhi held him. He wanted do to more than that, he wanted to somehow fix things, but there wasn't anything more he could do than hold Galen while he cried.

"I'm sorry," said Galen. "I'm so sorry, Bodhi."

"What are you apologizing to me for? You don't need to do that." Bodhi was the one who should be sorry. He was the one who'd volunteered to work for the same people who'd destroyed Galen's family.

Galen was slumped over in Bodhi's arms, his face buried in Bodhi's shoulder. "I shouldn't have gotten you involved in any of this," he said. "I'm sorry. I was just… I was lonely."

Bodhi didn't know what to do with that confession. He didn't know what to do with any of this. He was so far out of his depth it was a miracle he hadn't drowned yet.

"I was already working for the Empire when we met, Galen, you didn't involve me in anything I wasn't already in," said Bodhi. "And even if you had, I was lonely too. I'm glad you did."

 

\---

"I used to call her Stardust," said Galen, his head in Bodhi's lap. It was late and Bodhi should have been sleeping, given that he had an early flight in a few hours, but he hadn't felt like making Galen move. Galen was smiling at the memory playing out in his head, and it was maybe the most sincere smile Bodhi had ever seen on him. "She's the most important thing in my universe."

It was the one and only time he managed to tell Bodhi anything about Jyn without crying.

 

\---

Bodhi's arm was in a sling, and given the intensity of the blast, he was lucky that was the only thing wrong with him. His shuttle was trashed beyond recognition.

The supply officer scowled at him, as if for some reason he thought it had been Bodhi's decision to blow himself up. "They're tapering down the number of Jedha shuttles anyway. You can fly Arlon's, he's moving out to Lothal in a few weeks anyway."

"Wonderful," said Bodhi through clenched teeth.

He'd nearly been killed, his arm was still on fire where the bacta was knitting the bone back together, and he was absolutely itching for a fight. He also knew he was too tired to follow through on it, though. No, right now he wanted to get this over with, and hopefully find Galen somewhere.

As it turned out, Galen found him.

He frowned, his eyes filled with concern as he noticed the sling. "What happened to your arm?"

"Rebels managed to bomb the Jedha airfield," said Bodhi. "I'm surprised nobody told you."

Galen sighed. "I got a report on it, but it said that there weren't any injuries."

"Yeah, well, that's the Empire for you, isn't it?" he said. "They care more about the shuttles than the people piloting them."

That skipped right over the line between general gripping and into outright treason, and he knew he shouldn't let himself get lax about that, but it was difficult to care when he was around Galen. If there was one thing he was absolutely sure of, it was Galen hated the Empire more than Bodhi did. At least the Empire hadn't cost Bodhi a child.

The worst Galen ever did was warn him off about saying something similar in front of anyone else. This time he just nodded in agreement. "It's disappointing, I know."

Bodhi sighed, scrubbing at his face with his hand. He'd be better after a chance to clean up and sleep. "I'm just surprised security let it happened. The city's a war zone at this point, but they're usually all over keeping the mining and flight facilities clear."

"They must be getting lax now that the mining project's winding down. I'll talk to Krennic, make sure they tighten things up," he said, frowning. He put an arm around Bodhi and held him close, but gently, in consideration of the sling. "The last thing I want is you getting hurt again."

 

\---

It was raining and they were both soaking wet. Situation normal for Eadu, but still, Galen looked awful. Every single indicator told Bodhi that _the project _was winding down, that it was nearly done, but Galen looked worse every time Bodhi saw him. Like Bodhi, he'd never been much for regular and healthy amounts of sleep, but he'd been taking it to new levels the past few weeks. Even worse, Bodhi had barely seen him.__

__"You need to rest," said Bodhi._ _

__"I can rest later," said Galen. "Right now there's work to be done."_ _

__The insane depth of his work drive had been bothering Bodhi for a while now. In some ways he thought he understood Galen, and in other ways he was still a complete mystery. The Empire didn't have Jyn, they'd never had Jyn. They couldn't hold her over his head like a guillotine blade ready to drop. They hadn't found her in the fifteen years since Galen had left her on Lah'mu, and they weren't going to suddenly find her just because Galen decided to take a break long enough to get a full night's sleep._ _

__"The Empire took your family from you," said Bodhi. He kept his voice low even though there was no chance of anyone outside the shuttle hearing them over the driving rain. He didn't like to be the one to bring up Galen's family, but he needed to say it. "Why are you working so hard for them?"_ _

__Galen looked up at him, and it was hard to read his expression. It was dark and there was water running down his face, and either of those things could have explained the shadows around his eyes._ _

__"I'm finishing this for Jyn, not the Empire."_ _

__Bodhi sighed. Galen's answer didn't make sense to him. But he was tired, and he was lonely. It had been ages since they'd had any time together, and on top of that things hadn't been going great for Bodhi. Jedha was going crazy, the staff on Eadu were going crazy, everything had been dialed up to eleven. For a project that was supposed to be winding down it sure felt like everything was building up to something. He didn't understand, and at that moment he didn't really care. He just wanted to rest for a while. Preferably with Galen._ _

__"Please, Galen," said Bodhi. "I've missed you. Just take a break with me, please? Just one night."_ _

__There was a long pause before Galen answered him, and Bodhi was sick with the certainty that he was going to say no._ _

__"Alright," he said, and Bodhi exhaled the breath he'd been holding. "One night."_ _

__He wrapped an arm around Bodhi, pulling him close, and Bodhi sighed in contentment. He'd really needed to be held. "I've missed you too, Bodhi."_ _

__They both managed to dry off before falling into the bed. Bodhi wanted more, but he was too exhausted to do anything other than sleep, and he knew full well that Galen was in no better shape than he was. He settled for Galen's arm slung over him, a reassuring weight holding him down._ _

__The last thing he heard before drifting into sleep was Galen whispering into his ear, "I love you."_ _

__When he woke in the morning he was convinced he'd dreamed it._ _

 

 

\---

"What's all the kyber for?" asked Bodhi. All of a sudden he remembered asking the question before. He hadn't been given an answer, and he'd been fine with that. He'd been perfectly happy not knowing. He shouldn't even be asking now, but it's been eating at him, keeping him up at night. Everything's coming to a head, he can feel it in the air, and now he needs to know. He needs to be ready for the explosion when it comes. "What kind of project needs so much of it?"

"It's a weapon," said Galen. He still looked exhausted, but his eyes were sharper than they'd been in weeks.

"Of course it's a weapon, it's the Empire, what else would they be building? I don't understand why all of this," he said, gesturing around. "The facility, the secrecy, all that kyber."

Galen tapped something on his datapad, then flipped it around to show Bodhi. There was a diagram pulled up on the screen, a sphere with a divot on the top half, and it meant nothing to Bodhi.

"We call it the Death Star," said Galen, and even if the thing had been named something less ominous the tone of his voice alone would still have been enough to send a shudder through Bodhi. "It's the most massive thing ever built by sentient life, and inside it is a kyber crystal lattice the size of a city. It's designed to be able to destroy any planet in the galaxy instantaneously."

Bodhi tried to process that, and found that he couldn't. "Why? Why bother? They already ruined Jedha. They didn't need a super laser to do that."

"They've ruined far more planets than just Jedha," said Galen. The grief in his voice was palpable. "Smaller ones, mostly, places most people could ignore. And it took them time and effort. It won't take time and effort once this is finished. And it is very close to being finished."

The kyber shipments were slowing because they weren't needed anymore.

"You've been working on this the whole time?" asked Bodhi. It didn't make any sense. The Empire murdered his wife, took his daughter, and in return he worked day and night to build them this monstrosity?

"I drew it out as long as I could," said Galen. "I needed time to figure out how to sabotage it."

A horrible chill raced up Bodhi's spine. Doubt was one thing, resentment was one thing, but Galen was talking about outright treason. A completely unheard of level of treason. How much time and money had gone into a thing that size, that powerful? What would the Empire do to protect something like that?

They were going to die. And they weren't just going to be summarily executed either. No, they were going to die screaming.

"Galen, you didn't," he said, his voice shaky with panic. "Please tell me you didn't."

Galen looked at him, sorrow in his eyes, and of course he had. Fifteen years, day and night, to destroy the people who took his family. That made sense. That made perfect sense.

"Galen, no."

"Bodhi, please," he said. "I need you. And I know you don't want to be here."

"No," said Bodhi, but he didn't mean it.

 

\---

They spent the next several days arguing about it, but in the end there was never any real chance Bodhi was going to refuse him. Galen handed him the data disc, letting their hands brush together as Bodhi took it. Bodhi regretted arguing about it. They hadn't had much time, and he'd wasted too much of it arguing.

"I'm proud of you," said Galen.

"Don't say that. I haven't done anything yet."

"Yes, you have," said Galen. He kissed him, and Bodhi let himself melt into it for a minute before pulling away. The thought of leaving Galen behind was already chipping away at his resolve. Anything more and it would crack, and he wouldn't be able to leave. And he had to leave.

Everything Galen Erso had sacrificed the past fifteen years of his life for was nestled in the palm of his hand, and Bodhi loved him enough to do this one last part for him.


End file.
